GQ Icon Noel Gallagher on the nature of modern celebrity

To mark his Icon award at this year's GQ Men Of The
Year Noel Gallagher sat down with Danny Wallace to discuss his
thoughts on literature, One Direction and so much more. Read the
full interview in the October issue but in the meantime here are
Gallagher's thoughts on the increasingly strange world of citizen
paparazzi and what happened when he gave Rihanna a gift
backstage.

Wenn

"I don't do rock star stuff. I don't wear sunglasses all the
time - I tend to wear them when it's sunny. I don't have an
entourage, and when I do it's pathetic. Never more than two people.
I was at a festival in Norway and Rihanna's just arrived with a
hundred people. F***ing small army. And I had to go into this room,
which was all just racks of clothing and stuff that designers and
punters had brought to give to Rihanna. And they all had these
cards in front of them, saying: 'Dear Rihanna, we are such huge
fans, please accept this $90,000 handbag from whoever and whoever'.
And I'm reading all these cards as I'm waiting to go in… so I went
back to my dressing room and got the little bowl of Cadbury's
Sensations and left it there on her table with a card saying 'Dear
Rihanna, please accept these chocolates on behalf of Noel
Gallagher's High Flying Birds'. And she took them. She f***ing took
them.

The celebrity thing is… I've been at airports or restaurants or
walked into newsagents and it can be like something from the Wild
West… everyone goes for their pockets. They're going for their
phones. And you can tell that some of them, they don't even know
who you are - but they know you're famous. And their first reaction
is to get a picture. Why? What are they going to do with that? What
on earth are they going to do with that? And if I say no,
why insist? Why follow me down the high street, complaining,
saying, 'But I've bought all your records!' I don't care if you've
bought all my records! Go home and listen to them then! I don't
understand the trophy photograph. No one - not one of my mates -
has ever once gone to me, 'Look! Here's a photo of me with
Telly Savalas!'. Brilliant. Well done. What are you going to do
with that? Put it in the National Portrait Gallery? What is the
point? And the thing is about people taking pictures - they don't
f***ing know how to operate a camera. None of them. 'Can I get a
quick photo?'. Well, it's not going to be quick, is it? Or if
someone comes up to you in Selfridges while you're buying socks and
pants, and gives you a tube ticket to sign... I have to
say, 'I am not signing that'. It's the argumentative soul in me.
'Why not?' Well, what are you going to do with it? Are you going to
put that tube ticket on a plinth at home? Come on. Go and
get an album. I'll be in this section buying socks for the next 45
minutes. HMV is downstairs. You can be there and back in ten
minutes. Do not make me sign the back of a f***ing receipt from
Boots."

As told to Danny Wallace.

Read the full exclusive interview and photo shoot in the The
Men Of The Year Issue of British GQ, on sale 4 September, priced
£3.99. British GQ is also available on iPad, Google Play and Kindle
Fire.

Danny Wallace

A lot has happened to Danny Wallace in the past year. He has had a baby and has been hobnobbing with the powers that be in Hollywood. But that hasn't made him any less prone to getting into awkward situations. He has documented his social quandries in his latest book, More Awkward Situations For Men (Ebury Press, £11.99).